Kurt continued with his early morning hour of work before going to school. He even managed to stay awake in all of his classes, which was a feat since he hadn't slept well the previous night.
He spent the last period of the day pretending to pay attention to the teacher go over something he had covered on his own since he figured it would have been covered the previous Friday. While he was sitting there, an idea came to him, which he had to quickly put into motion for it to work. As soon as the bell rang, he got out of his chair and went and sat next to Kendra.
"Remember your offer in the dining room?" he teased her.
"Umm, that was months ago. Did you change your mind? I will totally be your girlfriend."
"Well, not exactly, but I need a partner for Glee. There are 8 guys and 7 girls and I know you're already singing with the Troubletones, but you have a really nice voice and I was wondering what I would have to offer you to get you to rehearse two afternoons a week with Glee and be my partner?"
"Hmm. How about one nice dinner at your house that I can actually eat and a movie?"
"Done and done. I get off work at 7:00, though. So, I can't make you dinner before then. Is that too late?"
"Nope. It's fine. I'll do my homework while you're working."
"Perfect. As far as I know, it will be Monday and Thursday after school. I'll let you know if it's different. You don't have to come today. And you can pick any night Monday through Thursday to be our date nights. You can let me know tomorrow after class. I have to get to rehearsal. Thank you!"
"You're welcome."
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Kurt headed into Glee. The songs still had not been chosen and he was losing patience. Once everyone was in the room, he put his hand up.
"Mr. Schue?"
"Yes, Kurt."
"We have not made the progress I had hoped for since we still don't have a set list yet, but I have been thinking about our costumes and I have a suggestion."
"What is it Kurt?"
"Well, the dresses that the girls wore for Rachel and Finn's wedding were lovely and with some minor adjustments, nothing permanent, they could work really well for Nationals. It would save a lot of money because only 6 or 7 dresses would need to be ordered, rather than 12 or 13 and only two guy's shirts would need to be ordered. I'm not sure how many Cheerio Troubletones there are."
"Explain your idea," Tina said.
"So, we put black sashes around the waists of the dresses. And we attach black bow ties to the center of the front. We already have black crinolines and if we need more, those are not expensive. The girls wear knee-length leggings, similar to previous times, just slightly shorter so they don't show unless they're spinning. And black heels, which all the girls already have. If any of the girls need to wear something in their hair, the accessories would be black. The guys wear black slacks, the button ups from the wedding, black bow ties because they don't flop around while we dance, and the black shoes we all already own."
"That's not a bad idea," Quinn said. "It would cost a lot less than buying all new dresses. We already have black bow ties for the guys. And making them for the dresses out of the same material as we use to make the sashes can't be that hard. Right, Tina? And if the straps aren't strong enough, we could add black thicker straps underneath that could be removed later."
"She's right." Tina said. "Those things wouldn't be that hard to do."
Kurt spoke again. "We just have to order 6 or 7 dresses in more pale colors. They can even be repeats except for 2 of them. I was thinking a turquoise and a pale salmon if they're available. If not, a pale teal and whichever of the other two we can get shirts to match. We can order from wherever Rachel got the dresses and shirts."
Mr. Schue asked, "Is anyone opposed to this idea?"
No one said anything.
"Well, then I think we'll go with that idea. So, Rachel, if you could give Kurt and Tina the name of the company you ordered from, they can get started on that."
"Alright."
"I have one other question."
"Yes, Kurt."
"We have 8 guys and 7 girls. I spoke with one of the Troubletones who is willing to join us for two afternoons a week so that we can have even numbers for our group piece to make the choreography easier. Is anyone opposed to one of them joining us? She has already agreed to be my partner. I thought we could partner up the way Rachel had everyone at the wedding since the guys shirts and girls dresses match that way. It was a really good line up."
"Is anyone opposed to one of the Troubletones joining us for our group number?"
"Can she sing?" Rachel asked.
"Yes, Rachel. I've heard her sing. She's a soprano."
Santana asked, "Who?"
"Kendra."
"She's good, Man Hands. Don't worry. She won't ruin the song."
"Fine."
"Alright, then that's settled."
Kurt raised his hand again.
"Yes, Kurt?"
"I have a suggestion for the guys song. 'Drowning' by the Backstreet Boys."
"I've never heard it," Puck said.
"Come sit by me and you can listen to it," Kurt said.
The guys that didn't know the song moved closer to Kurt and he played it.
"That's actually kind of nice," Puck said. "I mean it's not my normal style, but it's supposed to be a ballad, not a rock song. It's got nice harmonies, which is what I thought we were going for."
"I figured we could double up on the background harmony and have whoever has the best blend with Puck can sing the melody with him through the choruses to make the melody stand out a bit more. So, Rory takes the bass harmony, then Mike, Finn, and Artie sing baritone, then Joe and Sam sing tenor, leaving me alone on the high harmony, but the high notes will ring out with just one person singing them."
Artie said, "That could work. We just need to see whether Mike, Finn or Artie can blend the best with Puck for the choruses. We could even have two people singing with him on the melody through the chorus and leave the others singing the harmony."
"That could work too," Kurt said. "We'd just need to download the arrangement. That's why I thought a Backstreet Boys song was a good choice – because we could technically start working on it on Wednesday since there would be no need to arrange the parts for the chorus and we could base the rest of the harmonization that we want to do based on the way the chorus is done."
"If that's what the guys want to do, I'm fine with it," Mr. Schue said. "The 8 of you can talk about it. Girls, let's move to the other side of the room for a moment."
They all moved closer together. "Look, we want to have fun, but we don't want to be stressed out like last year. You all missed out on going sight seeing and that was my fault. I'm not letting that happen this year. Our pieces are going to be performance-ready two weeks before Nationals, so that at the end we're just rehearsing what we already know. No learning anything new at the last minute. So, I need to know what Rachel decided about joining the Troubletones piece and who is being featured in that piece so that I can divide up the parts in our group number."
"Rachel hasn't been coming and we have 12 members," Santana said. "We've already learned most of the dance, so as far as I'm concerned, she's not joining us. We've had four rehearsals already."
"Alright, so who is being featured?"
"Santana and me, mostly," Mercedes answered.
"But we gave Quinn, Tina, and Brittany a couple of lines or shared featured lines."
"Alright, so if I featured all of you, but Rachel had more lines than the rest of you, but Quinn, Tina, and Brittany were featured more than Santana and Mercedes, would you all be okay with that?"
"That seems reasonable to me," Tina said.
"That's fine with me," Quinn added. "So long as the overall amount we're all featured is reasonably close. Not like 2/3 of the song for Rachel and then the other 6 of us split the remaining 1/3 of the song."
"Alright. We still need to actually pick a song." Mr. Schue turned to the guys. "So, what's the verdict?"
Puck answered, "We're going to give it a go. We figured paying for a copy of the music is worth the risk to see how we sound."
"Okay, then we need to get back to choosing a group number. Several songs were suggested, but none of them had enough enthusiastic support to come out the clear victor. I'll give you all until tomorrow to bring in any other suggestions. Wednesday, the boys will rehearse 'Drowning'. Thursday we'll vote on the group number. So, to recap – the guys and girls will rehearse separately Mondays before school and Wednesdays after school. We will work on our group number Mondays and Thursdays after school. Tuesdays and Fridays we will continue to learn more about music and to have time for people to express themselves musically."
Kurt stood up and Sam followed him out of the room. Kurt stopped by his locker and grabbed what he needed and went to the Navigator to wait for Sam.
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
"So, taking the bull by the horns, it seems," Sam said after he put his seatbelt on.
"I'm tired of letting the bull run wild with no direction. It gets old after three years. I want to sing. I want to do well. I want to have fun. Sitting around and taking weeks to choose a song is none of those things."
"That Backstreet Boys song is nice. I think it will sound good. Do you know what the girls are singing?"
"Not yet. But I can find out tomorrow from Kendra."
"She's the one that offered to be your girlfriend, isn't she?"
"Yep. And she's my new platonic date partner once a week until Nationals. Dinner and a movie."
"I see." Sam laughed. "You bribed her."
"I did. You could give Megan a chance. You don't have to be madly in love with her to give her some nice dates with a nice guy."
"I guess that's true."
"You might be the first decent guy she's ever gone out with."
"That's sad."
"It is."
"What will Bas think of your new girlfriend?"
"He'll laugh. He's not the crazy jealous type. I told you that he's fine with us hanging out."
Kurt pulled into the lot and Sam got out and went inside. Kurt pulled his phone out and texted Sebastian.
To Sebastian: I have a new standing date night with Kendra.
From Sebastian: What did you need from her?
To Sebastian: I needed a partner for Glee. 8 guys, 7 girls. Choreography works better if there are pairs.
From Sebastian: So, you get a partner that can dance and sing and you have to make her dinner and what else?
To Sebastian: Watch a movie.
From Sebastian: Seems reasonable. She has to deal with your crazy club for 2+ hours a week. And you get the good fortune of having a good dance partner who's nice and likes you.
To Sebastian: Exactly. I have to go fix a car. I'll call you tonight. I love you.
From Sebastian: I love you too. Have fun with Kendra.
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Sebastian was beginning to doubt the sanity of his choice to play lacrosse. He was tired, really tired, and he had homework to do and someone to tutor still. He wondered whether giving up the Warblers would be a good choice. It would free up about as much time as quitting the lacrosse team.
Which one was more fun and enjoyable? That was the question that he didn't have an answer to. He'd give it until the end of the week, but something had to give. Maybe he just had to realize that he was going to have to do homework on the weekend. He didn't want that either.
His first plan was to attempt to do 30 minutes of reading at lunch everyday and eat in the Warblers practice room.
Nine weeks.
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Tuesday Kurt showed up to Glee ready to pitch the group song he thought would work well. Once everyone was seated, Mr. Schue moved to the middle of the room.
"So, who's brought another selection for us to listen to today?"
Kurt raised his hand.
"Anyone else?"
No one responded.
"Alright, Kurt. Let's hear what you've brought."
"Well, listen with an open mind. I know that the original is just one female lead singer, but I think it could work with multiple duet and single leads changing throughout the song." Kurt plugged the cord into his phone. Before he pressed play, he wrote the name of the song and singer on the white board – "Strip Me" by Natasha Bedingfield. "Everyone look the lyrics up so that you can follow along while you listen. He gave everyone a couple of minutes to pull them up.
Everyday I fight for all my future something's
A thousand little wars I have to choose between
I could spend a lifetime earning things I don't need
That's like chasing rainbows and coming home empty
And if you strip me, strip it all away
If you strip me, what would you find?
If you strip me, strip it all away
I'll be alright
(Chorus)
Take what you want, steal my pride
Build me up or cut me down to size
Shut me out, but I'll just scream
I'm only one voice in a million
But you ain't taking that from me (repeat 3x)
You ain't taking that
I don't need a microphone
To say what I've been thinking
My heart is like a loudspeaker
That's always on eleven
And if you strip me, strip it all away
If you strip me, what would you find?
If you strip me, strip it all away
I'm still the same
Repeat chorus
Cause when it all boils down at the end of the day
It's what you do and say that makes you who you are
Makes you think about, think about it doesn't it?
Sometimes all it takes is one voice
Repeat chorus (2x)
"I like what the song says overall, but do you think that the title will prejudice the judges against listening to the rest of the words?" Quinn asked.
"I'm not sure," Kurt answered. "It's a shame that the song's not called 'One Voice' or something like that."
"Well, I think this song is an interesting contender," Mr. Schue said.
Kurt spoke again. "The other idea I had was to sing something we sang our very first year, which was 'True Colors'. We could sing the verses as duets that switch throughout the song and have the chorus be everyone singing together. It would lend itself to much slower pairs dancing, allowing us to perfect our moves and making it easier on those with limited dance skills, and it would go with the rainbow colored outfits."
Mr. Schue wrote all of the songs on the board that had been suggested since spring break on the board. "I'm going to give you 15 minutes to use your phone to relisten to any of these that you might need a refresher on. We have 10 songs now. You can each vote for 3. Once we get the top 3 songs, we'll vote again on a final selection." He went into his office to bring out slips of paper and the shoebox to collect the votes in.
Once their time was up, each person wrote down their top three choices. Mr. Schue wrote the top three contenders on the board and everyone used their second ballot to make a final selection. Mr. Schue tallied the ballots.
"It looks like 'True Colors' has been chosen. I'll get to work on arranging the piece again. I'll base it off our original arrangement, but as Kurt suggested, rather than having a single lead through the whole song, it will pass from couple to couple since we have the group divided into couples. The duet section you sing may have you singing the melody or the harmony, but it will just be two of you singing at a time, so each person should be able to be heard. For a piece like this to work, we will have to use face mics. So, we'll work on practicing with them once we've got the vocals and the choreography down. I know that we had discussed having open time on Tuesdays and Fridays to do our regular sharing and singing. But this week, I'd like Brittany, Santana, Mike, and Kurt to come in on Friday and start to work on choreographing the couples dances for 'True Colors'. We'll meet again next Tuesday, so mark that on your schedules. No one else will need to stay this Friday or next Tuesday. Everyone is free to go."
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
"I really liked that song you suggested."
"Me too. Quinn had a good point about the name though. At least we finally chose something so we can get started. The thing that surprised me the most is that he asked me to stay to help with the choreography."
"He knows you taught your dad and Finn to dance for the wedding. I don't think any of the rest of us guys know how to do couples dancing."
"Well, everyone will look great at Prom this year after weeks of rehearsal for Nationals."
"I'm wearing that baby blue suit to Prom."
"You're not."
"I am. I have to find someone crazy enough to go with me or just go by myself."
"You're paired with Brittany for the group number, maybe you can start hinting that a costumed Prom would be fun. Then you could wear the baby blue suit as your David Bowie costume."
"A costumed Prom would be awesome. Maybe more single people would come if it felt more like a party than a pairs dancing event."
"They might."
"Are you going to ask Bas?"
"I don't know. I don't even know when it is. He has lacrosse games every other Saturday that last for an hour. By the time he got showered and changed and we drove straight here, it would be after 7:00. After last year's fiasco, I'm not sure how interested I am in going."
"That was just plain wrong. Figgins should have announced the girl with the highest number of votes. There were plenty of people there who weren't in on it."
"Well, I seriously doubt Figgins' educational credentials frequently."
"Let's get inside. There are cars to fix and tools to clean."
"And paychecks to earn. I love having the car, but I've been spending a lot of my paycheck on gas since I missed during those rehearsals and then I didn't work during spring break."
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
By Thursday, Kurt had a realtor lined up to show them four houses and four apartment options in Cincinnati on Sunday starting at noon. He finalized the meeting point at lunch on Thursday.
Once classes were over, Kendra met him outside the Glee room and she came in to work on "True Colors" with the group. She sat with him and Sam. It didn't take long for Brittany to manage to squeeze her way into Kurt's chair with him and cause Sam to get up and move over one spot, giving Brittany his chair.
"If you wanted a girlfriend again, Kurt, why didn't you tell me? I thought you'd want to be my boyfriend again if you ever decided to date girls again."
"Sweetie, you know you're the only girl for me. Kendra's my singing and dancing partner for the song, remember?"
"I remember. But what if I wanted to be your dance partner?"
"You're Sam's partner. In your heels, you're the same height as me and that makes it harder for me to spin you. Sam's taller than me so it's easier for him to spin you."
"Okay, but his hands aren't as soft as yours. Maybe you can teach him how to get his hands softer."
"I can try, Britt."
Mr. Shue had the vocal arrangement ready and distributed the sheet music and the group worked on their parts for the whole class period.
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Kendra rode with Kurt and Sam to the shop after rehearsal and did her homework in the lounge while Kurt fixed cars. She wandered out several times and watched him.
"I'm only going to say this once because I know it's not really polite. But I really wish you weren't gay. You're really cool and would make an awesome boyfriend."
"Fortunately for me, my boyfriend thinks I am an awesome boyfriend. But I do appreciate the kind words. I hope you find someone who likes girls who fits your criteria for 'awesome boyfriend'. You're very sweet and you deserve someone who treats you respectfully and as an equal."
"Thanks. How long have you worked on cars?"
"Since I was a little kid. But for pay, since I was 16."
"That's cool. I bet it pays better than fast food."
"Definitely. I make about three times as much an hour."
"Oh, wow."
"But I have a lot of certifications. Sam just makes minimum wage still. He just started working here a few months ago when he moved in with us."
"Your dad must be as cool as you are to let two teenagers that aren't his live with you guys."
"My dad's great. He's not home much during the week. But he'll be home next Thursday when you come over because there's a two-week congressional break starting this weekend."
"Congressional break?"
"My dad is a congressman."
"Oh. I didn't know. I just knew he owned this place."
"He ran for election last fall."
"I didn't turn 18 until January. I wasn't paying any attention to the election. I'll leave you alone to finish. Sorry for interrupting you."
"I'll be done at 7:00 and we can go home then. I have everything prepped, so it won't take long to get it ready."
"I'm excited to see what it is. I have a movie picked out. Can we stop by a Redbox on the way to your house?"
"Sure. I should have asked before. Do you have any food allergies?"
"Nope. Only Coach Sue's craziness."
"Alright. I have to get these spark plugs in, if you'll excuse me."
"Sure. Sorry. I'll go read."
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Kurt and Sam prepared dinner quickly since Kurt had prepped all of it ahead of time. Kendra sat at the island and watched them, and then moved to the dining room table once it was done.
"Sorry for watching you like that. I've never seen guys cook before."
"That's not all that surprising. Sebastian is the only other guy I know that cooks."
"That's not true, Kurt. Puck cooks."
"I had forgotten."
"Puck, as in Puck from McKinley, can cook?"
"Yep. He's good at basic stuff like mac & cheese, spaghetti, soup, sandwiches, and cupcakes."
"Alright, so tell me how this dish can possibly meet Coach Sue's requirements. It has rice in it."
"Nope, no rice. That's riced cauliflower."
"Oh." She took a bite of the stir-fry. "It's good." She took another larger bite. "It's actually really good."
"I stir-fried everything with the tiniest bit of oil, just enough to get the seasonings to stick, so it's still lowfat."
They mostly ate in silence so that they could finish and watch them movie in time to get Kendra home by her curfew.
After they finished eating, Sam went up to his room to do his homework. Kurt and Kendra headed to the family room to watch Neverland.
"Is it okay if we turn the lights off? I like watching movies in the dark."
"Sure." Kurt got up and turned the lights off and sat back down.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Does your boyfriend know I'm here?"
"Yeah."
"And he's okay with it?"
"Sure. Can I ask you something? And I need you to be honest with me."
"Alright."
"I can't do this with you if you have a crush on me. I can't do things that are confusing and give you the false hope that there's something that you can do to make me straight. I have absolutely no problems being friends with you and even snuggling up and watching chick flicks, which I actually like. I'll do your hair, paint your nails, we can watch makeover shows. My dad will even let you sleepover. But I can't be straight. I can't like you in a romantic way. I've tried before."
"Brittany."
"Yes. We dated two years ago. I'm 100% gay, not even a hint of bi. So, as long as you understand that anything I do is not romantic, we'll be fine. I just have had the unpleasant experience of being led on by someone and I don't ever want to do that to someone else."
"I get it. It's fine. Really. You're not like any boy I've ever met. If you were straight, I'd ask you to date me and see if we could make it work, but I could use a friend."
"Alright then. We can snuggle if you want."
Kendra scooted closer and Kurt wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and hit play on the DVD player.
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Burt flew in Friday afternoon. He decided to have Sebastian pick him up and bring him back to Lima rather than have Carole drive to get him.
Kurt was a little disappointed because that meant that Sebastian wouldn't get to Lima until a lot later than usual, but he understood his dad's reasoning. Carole was cooking dinner for everyone, including Finn and Rachel and they were having their first Friday evening family dinner in a long time.
He also knew that it meant that Sebastian would have to work his normal 7-8 hours all on Saturday. But at least he would get to spend the day with him, even if it was changing tires or doing tune-ups. And this weekend, he had homework left since he had spent the previous evening with Kendra. He decided he would do it while Sebastian worked on the bookkeeping. And he couldn't forget squeezing in the cake decorating the next morning before work.
He finished up the project he had been working on, and then changed and tossed his coveralls into he bin. Sam had already changed back. They headed home.
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
They both headed directly up the stairs. Kurt wanted to drop his stuff off in his room before starting to help with dinner. He stacked his books on the vanity and opened his agenda and looked through what he had left to do before he headed back down the stairs. He met Sam coming out of the kitchen as he was heading in.
"I think dinner's almost done. Finn and Rachel are supposed to be here soon."
"Why are you headed into the living room?"
"Um, I'm waiting for Sebastian to get here so I can leave."
"Oh, I hadn't thought about my dad changing the plans causing you problems."
"It's not a problem. I'm ready to head out. I just brought my bag downstairs and grabbed a slice of cold pizza and ate it. As soon as they get here, I'm heading out. No offense – but a family dinner with Rachel and Sebastian in the same room isn't on my list of fun ways to spend the evening, even if I hadn't been planning to go home this weekend."
"It's not on my list of fun ways to spend the evening either."
Just then, the front door opened and Burt came in. Sebastian came in behind him carrying Burt's bags. He sat them down in the entryway and headed right back to the car to grab his own. Sam headed out the door right behind him. He tossed his stuff in the front seat while Sebastian pulled his stuff out of the backseat.
"Sorry we're a little late. His luggage took a while to make it to the baggage claim area."
"Not a problem. I'd just rather not be here when Rachel and Finn arrive. I do a decent job of ignoring her without her noticing it at school, but it's a lot harder to do that one-on-one. My condolences on having to spend the evening with her."
"Thanks. Maybe we can hang out Sunday evening when you get back."
"That would be fun. See ya!"
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Kurt had grabbed Burt's bags and taken them to the master bedroom, and then headed straight up the stairs. When Sebastian came in the room a few minutes later to drop his bags off, Kurt was waiting for him.
As soon as he was all the way inside the room, Kurt moved to shut and lock the door behind him.
"I'm glad your home. I missed you."
Sebastian put his stuff on the end of the bed and opened his arms and Kurt closed the distance between them quickly and wrapped his arms around Sebastian.
"I missed you too."
"I still have schoolwork to do. I'm going to try to use that to get back up here as quickly as possible after we eat. We have to work tomorrow and I still have to go help Puck frost Sarah's cake tomorrow before going to the shop."
"I'm sure I can think of something I can work on that's school-related so that I can say I have work to do too." He thought for a minute. "I can work on a paper I have to do for French, even though it's not due until Thursday."
"Okay. Let's head downstairs and get this over with."
"Kisses first."
"Of course."
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Sebastian and Kurt stopped in the bathroom on their way to the kitchen to wash their hands again. They offered to help carry the food to the dining table. Everyone sat down and began to pass the food around.
"This looks really good, Mom," Finn said as he took several pieces of chicken before passing the platter.
"So, how are you liking working at the auto parts store?" Burt asked.
"It's alright, I guess. Working on the weekends kind of sucks thought because I miss out on hanging out with the guys."
"Yeah, as an adult, you have to plan more. There's less spontaneous entertainment," Carole said. "I'm having to plan weeks in advance to get time off in blocks so that I can see Burt."
"I hadn't really thought about that, but I'm sure that's quite difficult to do," Rachel said.
"It is, but it's worth it. You'll both need to work on time management skills to be able to make it in New York City," Carole pointed out. "Getting a full-time position will be hard to do. Most places that hire non-professionals only hire part-time employees, making it so that people have to work more than one job to make ends meet."
"Why do they do that?" Finn asked. "If they know the person is going to go get another job somewhere else, they know the person would rather just work all of the hours one place."
"Benefits," Burt said. "If a company hires people full-time, they have to pay for benefits for them that they don't have to pay for part-time workers. So, it costs a company less to hire two part-time people to work one full-time position."
"That sucks," Finn responded.
"It does," Burt said. "But it's the reality of things right now. I went and did some research after listening to some of the things that Kurt had said and found out that he was right about the cost of living in New York City. It's very, very high. You'll be working a lot of hours just to pay for a small place to live. You all need to make plans to go out there for a few days and meet with someone who shows apartments to see what you can find. Plus, you need to start putting in applications for places near where you pick to live. You don't want to spend any more time commuting each day than you have to. We hear all these names of places thrown around like Brooklyn and Midtown and to us, it all seems like New York City because we just know what we know from TV. But I looked. It's like an hour commute from Brooklyn into the area of New York City where Central Park is."
"An hour?" Finn asked.
"Yes. So, looking at an apartment listing that says it's in Brooklyn could make it an hour commute to and from Rachel's school since it's in the heart of the city."
"Kurt, you never did tell me about whether you got a call back letter from NYADA."
"I did."
"That's great!" she exclaimed. "If you get in, maybe we could find a 2-bedroom place and it would cut down on the expenses by dividing them three ways, instead of two."
"I don't think so Rachel. I'm not up for living with a married couple. You two should look for a place just for the two of you."
Carole tried to lighten the conversation by changing the topic. "I was really surprised by the tie at Regionals. I didn't think that could happen."
"Neither did we," Rachel answered. "But we're preparing already, so it should be great. No last-minute stress like last year."
"That's good," Carole responded.
"The Warblers are excited. I guess they used to compete a few years back. But they had never competed in the show choir competitions until last year. So, getting to go to Nationals is new for everyone. We're not expecting to win. We're just putting on the best performance we can and having fun with it."
"I've been trying to get our group to see it that way. Hopefully, now that we have our songs, we'll get our parts down and start to have fun with it."
"Any fun plans for the weekend?" Burt asked.
"I have schoolwork and whatever still need done at the garage, so I'll be doing that tomorrow," Kurt answered.
"Same for me," Sebastian said.
"We're having guys night and girls night tomorrow evening. So, that should be fun," Finn said.
"I'll be baking some stuff during the day and making some snack trays," Rachel said.
"Sounds fun," Carole added.
"Did you invite Kendra?" Kurt asked.
"Oh, umm, no. She's not really in Glee."
"She is. She's my partner. She joined."
"She never auditioned," Rachel said.
"And you rejected Sugar's audition, yet she's in the group now."
"Fine, I'll call her and invite her."
"Only if you can do it and be nice about it. She may already have plans, but you should give her the opportunity to come or not. She's a good singer and she makes our group piece work better than it would have without her."
"Alright. I need her number though."
Kurt took his phone out and read Kendra's number off to Rachel.
"If you'll excuse me, I'll go do this right now before it gets any later." Rachel stood up from the table and went into the hallway bathroom.
Kurt looked at Finn. "You left me out on purpose. I'm not going to sit around and let that be done to someone else. It was hurtful and uncalled for."
"Look, dude. I'm sorry. When I first told them you didn't want to come, I didn't think you would."
"I'm not sure that counts as an apology, but I guess it's a start. You didn't know me well enough to know whether I would want to come, so it wasn't your place to answer for me."
"I get that."
"You get it now that Sam bitched all of you out."
"Kurt, language," Burt said.
"Sorry, Dad. Direct quote from Puck."
Burt nodded.
Rachel came back in the room and took her seat. "She thanked me and said that she already had plans."
"Well, at least you tried. Thanks," Kurt said.
"Is it alright if I clear the food and start to put it away?"
"Sure, Kurt. Unless someone wants something else," Carole answered.
Finn reached for another piece of chicken and another roll, and then scooped another serving of macaroni and cheese onto his plate.
Sebastian grabbed his place setting and Kurt's and followed Kurt into the kitchen, and then grabbed the plate of brownies and carried them back to the dining room and placed them on the table. He came back and loaded the dishes into the dishwasher while Kurt started to wash the pots and pans.
"You better go grab one of those brownies, if you want one because Finn will eat several and then ask if he can take the rest with him."
He scurried in the other room, put one on a napkin and brought it back with him, sitting it on the counter down from the sink. He kissed Kurt on the back of the neck and wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist. "I didn't realize that you hadn't told Rachel about the live audition letter."
"I didn't know what to do." Kurt lowered his voice to barely more than a whisper. "I know I can't afford to go there. There's still just something about proving that I could get in. Rachel's always 'let's do it together, but I'll stab you in the back and stand on your body to climb higher if necessary'."
"I get that."
"I know you do. You picked up on it in a very short period of time without even knowing her personally. I just get tired of being made to feel like I'm not good enough. And I guess I still have this feeling that everyone will see me going to school in Cincinnati as a consolation prize. It's stupid because the program in Cincinnati is ranked higher than NYADA, but New York City is where Broadway is so people automatically assume that the schools there are better."
"So, are you going to do the live audition?"
"I haven't made up my mind still."
"Well, if you decide to go through with it, I want to come watch you."
"Okay."
Finn cleared his throat behind them. Sebastian took a step back so Kurt could move, but didn't take his hands off of Kurt's waist.
"Is there something I can do for you, Finn?" Kurt asked.
"I, um, have my plates."
"The dishwasher's right there, Finn. Surely living with the Berrys hasn't caused you to forget how to use it."
"No."
"Then put your plates in."
"You two were standing right there."
"Yeah, so?"
"He's like hanging all over you."
"And that is different from how you and Rachel act in what way?"
"Never mind."
Carole came in the room. "What's going on? It never takes you that long to put plates in the dishwasher when there's dessert waiting."
"Right." Finn walked over to the dishwasher and put his and Rachel's place settings in and put the door back up. "Done." He turned and walked past Carole back into the dining room."
"Do I want to know?"
Sebastian answered, "I doubt it."
"Finn was bothered by Sebastian's proximity to me while I was washing the pots and pans next to the dishwasher."
"I see. And by proximity, you mean Sebastian was just standing there like he normally does. Basically, just standing close to you talking to you, like you're standing right now."
"Yep, you got it. No kissing, no groping, nothing but me washing dishes and him standing close to me and wrapping his hands around my waist and talking to me like he usually does."
"Does he act this way around Rachel's dads? I would think they would be fed up with it by now," Sebastian said.
"I don't know. I don't want to butt in when it's their household. He's an adult and they can deal with him however they see fit. But here, he's not going to act that way." She turned toward the dining room. "Finn, come in here for a minute."
"Yeah, Mom?"
She kept her voice down. "Why does seeing Kurt happy bother you?"
"I'm not bothered by him being happy. I don't understand the question."
"Why does seeing him be affectionate with someone bother you?"
"I don't like seeing anyone being affectionate with other people."
"Then why do you engage in PDA yourself, Finn?" Kurt asked. "I mean I could understand your answer IF I had never seen you and Rachel or anyone else kiss or be affectionate in public. But I'm not even in public. You ran a kissing booth at school. This is our kitchen. There's something more to it."
Rachel came in and heard what Kurt had said and stayed to listen to Finn's answer.
"No, not really. I just don't like it. I like hugging Rachel and her sitting on my lap and kissing her and stuff, but I don't like seeing other people do it."
Carole said, "Finn, that's a double standard. If it's okay for you to do, then it's okay for other people to do it as well. If you don't want to see it, then don't do it where other people can see you."
"So, you're honestly saying that if I were dating a girl, you'd be just as uncomfortable seeing me be affectionate with her as you are with me and Sebastian."
"I don't know. Maybe with you two it's just more uncomfortable because I don't know Sebastian. With the other people I see close like that, I know both people, so it's less weird, I guess. And to be honest, the things I've heard about Sebastian are bad. So, maybe part of it has to do with that."
"Kurt, finish the dishes. Sebastian, dry them and put them away. Finn, Rachel – back into the dining room for now." Carole grabbed everything else off the table and either packed it up or put it in the dishwasher, handing Kurt anything that needed washed by hand. Once they had finished, they went back into the dining room as well.
"Alright, we're moving this discussion to the living room where we can be a little more comfortable," Carole stated. Everyone got up and moved.
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Kurt and Sebastian sat in the oversized chair together. Sebastian wrapped his arm around Kurt's shoulders and they got comfortable. Rachel slipped her shoes off and sat in the chair with her feet pulled up into the seat since she was so small and Finn sat on the floor in front of her she had her hand on his shoulder. Burt and Carole sat on the couch. Carole initiated the conversation.
"We know there's something going on between the four of you that we don't understand. We've given you months to work it out between you without interfering and it hasn't worked. So, despite the fact that I'd rather not mediate, I am going to anyway, in hopes that we can work through this and move forward."
"Rachel knows most of what our issues are. I don't know whether she has shared those with Finn or not. I'm not sure how to proceed."
"So, you've told Sebastian?" she asked.
"Yes. I don't keep secrets from him. Plus, he figured some of it out on his own from things you posted on Facebook."
"I'm tired of the vague answers," Burt cut in. "Someone explain in plain English why Kurt and Rachel are feuding."
"I'm not aware of any reasons why she is upset with me. So, if she has some, she's free to state those first."
"You broke up with Blaine and started dating Sebastian."
"I hardly see how that is a reason for YOU to be upset with ME. It would make more sense if Blaine were upset about that. I don't see what it as to do with you."
"Well, he and I had a lot of plans for the four of us and you breaking up with him ruined those plans."
"Plans like?"
"We were going to get an apartment in New York together – the four of us."
"I see. But that couldn't have happened until a year from the fall because he's a junior."
"I know. He was planning to apply to a school in New York City too."
"I still don't see how this is a valid reason for you to be mad at me. The fact that I am not dating Blaine anymore does not affect you in any way personally. You can still go to college and get an apartment in New York, and if you want, you can still move to a new place for your second year of college and he can move in with you. Just because we are not together doesn't prevent you from going ahead with whatever plans you were making with him."
"It's not the same."
"That's still not a reason to be mad at me."
"So, is there something else?" Carole asked.
"He's just been ignoring me and giving me the cold shoulder. I just responded in kind."
"Does Kurt have valid reasons to be mad at you that might have caused him to purposefully ignore you?"
"I guess…"
"You guess?" Burt asked.
"If you don't mind, I'd rather finish with what she brought up first – the issue of me dating Sebastian. Although it has nothing to do with her personally, she has reacted as if it did. I don't understand."
"I know what he is. Blaine told me," Rachel said.
"And Rachel told me," Finn added.
"Blaine doesn't know anything," Sebastian stated emphatically. "I spent… let me think…" He paused calculating. "…not even 8 hours with him. And I might have spent a grand total of 15 minutes talking about myself during that entire time. Four of the hours were in a place with fairly loud music that didn't lend itself to much personal conversation. The other less than four hours consisted of us having coffee together, during which he talked about himself 90% of the time. I bet if you ask him, he can't even write down 10 factual pieces of information that he knows about me."
"And just what is it that you think he is?" Kurt asked.
"The gay version of Puck," she answered.
Kurt laughed.
"I don't really know anything about Puck, other than that he used to bully Kurt along with Finn and the other jocks. So, I'm not sure what that means because I've never bullied anyone."
"Puck sleeps around," Finn offered.
"Oh. I see. Well, that's not true. I've never slept with anyone."
"You sleep with Kurt," Finn said.
"I sleep in the same bed with Kurt. By 'sleep with' I assumed you meant 'have sex with'. Wasn't that the implied meaning, Finn?"
"Yeah."
"Well then, I still stand by what I said."
"Blaine said that you were hitting on him and that you're a one-night stand or hook-up kind of guy," Rachel said.
"He basically said you're a Paree… a Parisian manwhore."
"Not true about the one-night stands or hook-ups. I've never done either of those. I just said that I've never had sex with anyone, not that it was really any of your business. As for hitting on Blaine, I did. Kurt knows. I'm not comfortable explaining why because Blaine's not here to tell his side and saying things about people who aren't present is gossiping. But Kurt knows why. Since it doesn't affect your life personally, I don't see that telling you is reasonable."
Carole intervened. "So, Sebastian is not a 'free spirit' for lack of a better non-derogatory word to use, and even if he had been, I don't see why that's a reason for you to be upset with Kurt. Anyway, is there any other reason? In particular, a reason that affects you personally, Rachel?"
"I guess not."
"Finn?" Carole asked. "Has Sebastian done something to you personally that has offended you or given you some reason to dislike him?"
"No."
"Alright," Burt said. "What are the reasons you are or have been angry with Rachel?"
"You're serious? You want me to say them say them out loud with everyone in here?"
"Yes?" Burt answered cautiously.
"Alright. But remember that you asked me to do this. Rachel has pushed my contributions to the New Directions to being a back-up singer as often as she possibly could. Last year, after the duets competition, when she asked me to sing with her, I thought we were approaching a truce. I forgave her previous digs at me and I sang with her. I thought I left for Dalton with us on good terms. I brought Blaine to her party, where they got smashed and the two of them made out, right in front of me, I might add. Then they sang a flirty duet that involved a lot of physical innuendo and some touching, which also upset me, but I wrote it off to them both being drunk. I should add at this point, she KNEW that I had a crush on Blaine. A few days later, she asked him out on a date, which he agreed to. We met up the day afterward, and when I tried to be kind, even though I was really hurt, and I warned her that Blaine was gay, she actually said, 'Who cares about you, buddy? I might get a partner who can match me vocally and give me slightly Eurasian looking children.'"
"What?" Finn asked.
"You were with Quinn," she said.
"Kurt, go on," Carole said.
"So, you knew that I had a crush on him and you still tried to take a gay guy from me, just like you had taken all of the limelight in Glee all the time. For a girl with two fathers, you are very effeminophobic. I can keep up with you vocally and you know it. I have a larger vocal range than Blaine on both ends. Our vocal ranges are not the topic of this discussion though. So, that was the first specific thing she did that was really hurtful besides the constant pushing me to the background in Glee."
"Alright," Burt said.
"And I forgave her, even though she never apologized. When I came back to McKinley, I did my best to wipe the slate clean. I thought we had moved past those days. Then this fall happened. At first, she was all supportive, and acted like we were going to take New York City by storm together. Then the auditions for West Side Story took place. When I asked her to reaudition with me and performed a section of Romeo and Juliet together, the scene called for me to kiss her. She balked at kissing me, which caused the directors to laugh. That's on them for not being professional enough to behave properly. But she had previously willingly walked up to Blaine and kissed him in the Lima Bean in public. But she balked at kissing me and ruined the scene, which I'm sure contributed to me not getting the part because the directors already considered me to be too feminine for the role. I was trying to show them that I could play a masculine role and she refused to kiss me. But when Blaine was cast as Tony, she was thrilled and she had no issues with kissing him during the play."
"I see," Burt said.
"So, that was the second thing. The third thing was when she saw Mercedes audition for Maria and she KNEW that Mercedes was better, she went to Coach Beiste and put her name in for the senior class president election. She knew that I had very little to put on my CV, while she had like 20 afterschool clubs and her voice and dance lessons and a recommendation from Ms. Corcoran, and her numerous leads in competition and whatever else she had. That wasn't enough. She had the tiniest scare that she wasn't going to get Maria and she tried to take the only school-related thing I could potentially do to boost my CV."
"But I dropped out and endorsed you."
"Too little, too late, Rachel. So that was the third thing. The fourth thing was the election itself. You stuffed the ballot boxes, and I realize that you feel like you paid for your crime by being suspended for a week and not getting to sing at sectionals, but I didn't get a do-over for the election. I didn't cheat, but I got disqualified. The election should have been redone, but it wasn't. I just lost because you cheated."
"I didn't mean to get you disqualified."
"I understand that, but you didn't think. And what you did hurt me. The fifth thing also has to do with West Side Story and a pact you made with Blaine."
"We don't need to talk about that," Rachel said. "You and I have already talked about this."
"That may very well be, but I was asked by my father to explain the reasons that I am upset with you."
"What was the pact?" Burt asked.
"I can give you the basics, but since I wasn't part of it, I could get the details wrong. I will defer to Rachel to explain."
"I'd rather not."
"Alright. Final chance. You explain or I'll tell what I know."
She didn't say anything. Finn and Sebastian looked like they wished they could be anywhere besides where they were.
"It seems that all four of you know, so spill, Kurt," Burt said.
"Artie told the two of them that they didn't act like two people who had sexual awakenings and asked them about their first times. When he didn't get an answer, he suggested that they open themselves up to experiencing this awakening, which they made a pact to do before opening night."
"Oh, God," Carole said. "That was really inappropriate. Finn, why don't you go get all of us some drinks?"
"Sure, Mom."
"Hurry up and tell the rest of this," Carole said and Rachel do NOT repeat whatever he says to Finn or anyone else."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Blaine did not seduce me the way you attempted to seduce Finn to keep your part of the pact. Instead, he got drunk and tried to coerce me in the back of a car, and didn't listen when I said 'no', loudly and repeatedly. I eventually got free and got out of the car. But if things had gone differently – I don't want to think about it. Your pact with him nearly cost me my virginity without my consent. You made a pact with someone to do something that didn't involve just your own body. If you wanted to do something in real life so you could be more believable doing it as an actress and you told the other person why you were doing it, that's fine. But what you did was wrong, Rachel. I didn't find out until after the fact, which is why I listed it as the fifth and last reason."
"I didn't know. I swear," Rachel said, pulling her feet up under her tighter.
"That changes nothing, Rachel. That's on him. What he did was on him. What you did is on you. It cost him our relationship. That was the final straw with him. I broke it off with him and with you."
"I see," she said.
Finn came back in the room with an armload of cans of drinks and sat them down on the coffee table.
"Thanks, Finn," Carole said.
"Sure." He picked one up for him and for Rachel and handed it to her.
Sebastian leaned forward and grabbed one. He opened it and took a drink and handed it to Kurt. He knew Kurt would never drink a whole one, but he would take a sip when offered, which he did and then gave it back to Sebastian.
"So, as I see it," Burt started, "Kurt has a list of legitimate reasons to be upset with you, Rachel. And none of your reasons seemed like reasons to be feuding, unless there's something you didn't mention earlier, Rachel."
"He was vocally opposed to Finn and me getting married."
"I still stand by that. I'm allowed to have an opinion. I think getting married in high school is silly. All I suggested was that you wait. I never said that you shouldn't get married ever. I just saw no reason why you couldn't wait until this summer. Finn was already allowed to stay over at your house. Getting married didn't lift Dad's ban on significant others under the age of 18 spending the night here. It just didn't make any sense to me. It's not like not being married kept you from having sex. You haven't gotten into college or made a final decision on where you'll be in 5 months. It just seem premature to me. Finn's not even sure what he wants to do yet. What if he realizes that the only place he can learn to do what he wants to do is in Texas or something? You can't live in the NYADA dorms as a married person. Singles only. You'll have to live off campus. Even if he figures out what he wants to do, he'll have to wait until you finish school and get a job that pays enough for him to only work 10-15 hours a week because Finn can't go to school full time and work full time or more than full time. My opinion stands. Getting married before you had EACH decided on your career path was premature. I did a ton of research on New York City last fall. It's insanely expensive to live there. By marrying you, Finn just agreed to work 40-60 hours a week to pay for half of the expenses on an apartment there. He doesn't even know if he'll like living in New York City."
""He'll be with me. It will be fine."
"And that may very well be true. But I didn't come to my opinion willy-nilly. I researched things for myself last fall. I wish you both the best. I really do. I would never wish unhappiness on someone. Seriously – whether you're mad at me or not, you know me well enough to know that. I even made amends with Dave and I don't wish him unhappiness. I just didn't see what the rush was. And you were super rude about the wedding to me and Sebastian. Anyway, I have stated my reasons. I actually have homework that I really need to work on because I have to work tomorrow and I have plans for Sunday. So, unless there is something else that someone needs to know, I'd like to be excused – and Sebastian too." Kurt stood up and Sebastian followed his lead. They took a couple of steps toward the hall.
Rachel spoke up. "I have another question."
They both turned around.
Kurt responded, "Alright."
"Why does Sebastian live here?"
"Because we invited him to," Carole answered. "The rest is no one's business besides Sebastian's. He is part of this family. That isn't going to change."
"How long has he lived here?"
"Since winter break," Kurt answered.
"How long have you two actually been dating?"
"Since January 20th, so not quite 2½ months."
"Why did you hit on Blaine if you weren't interested?"
Sebastian suppressed his urge to roll his eyes and answered calmly. "I have my reasons, and sharing them would involve gossiping, which I am not going to do. But if your roundabout question is whether I liked Blaine before I liked Kurt, the answer is no." He stepped behind Kurt and wrapped his arms around his waist. "I met Blaine before I met Kurt. But I was not romantically interested in Blaine at any point in time. Kurt and I started hanging out about three weeks after he had broken up with Blaine. We became friends. I started spending more time with him. We became closer friends. He asked me out a little over two months after we had become friends, which was three months after he had broken up with Blaine. Other than my initial less than 8 hours of spending time with Blaine right after he came to Dalton with the tickets to West Side Story back in October, I haven't spent any other time alone with him. Obviously after he came back to Dalton, I've spent four hours a week with him in Warblers rehearsals, but we don't talk."
Kurt crossed his arms over his chest and shifted his weight to his right hip. "Is there anything else that doesn't involve talking about Blaine that you want to know Rachel? Because if it's just curiosity and trying to fit what you've heard from Blaine with what you've heard tonight, then I'd suggest you attempt to get Blaine to meet with the three of us and if he wants to answer your questions with us present, then I'm willing to participate, but as Sebastian has pointed out, he's not going to gossip, meaning sharing rumors he's heard, about Blaine. I told you all I'm going to tell you and I expect you to kept your word about not spreading information that's not yours to tell."
"Right." She nodded noticing the glare she was getting from Carole.
Kurt reiterated, "This isn't a game, Rachel. You agreed in front of your in-laws to keep the information to yourself."
"Yes, of course." She nodded again.
"So, if there's nothing else, I have homework to do." He took a step toward the stairs.
"I have a French paper to write," Sebastian added, also moving toward the stairs.
"You two are free to go up and do your homework," Burt said.
"We'll be up and gone by the time you two get up tomorrow morning. We have very early plans, and then we'll be heading right to the shop to get to work. We'll be there until 3:00 or 4:00."
Burt nodded his head. Kurt and Sebastian headed up the stairs.
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Sebastian closed and locked the door behind them after they went in their room.
Kurt plopped down on the end of the bed. "Well, I didn't expect that," Kurt said. "If she breathes a word of it, I will never speak to her again."
He sat down next to Kurt and took his hand. "Do you trust her to keep it quiet?"
"Not at all."
"How will you know?"
Kurt leaned over and put his head on Sebastian's shoulder briefly. "I'm imagining that it's more likely that you will know since you're the one who sees Blaine. If she calls him and asks him, you'll know by the dagger stares I imagine you'll get from him. He has obviously managed to keep Rachel as a friend, even though he went back to Dalton. And by the way she was talking, they're pretty close."
"I don't think he'll do anything, other than maybe give me dagger looks. The school won't tolerate him bullying me and he doesn't have any dirt on me. It's the other way around, so I think he'll just keep it quiet even if she asks him questions."
Kurt sat back up. "I don't think we'll be required to spend another family night dinner with Finn and Rachel though. So, I guess that's the up side." He stood up and started to undress.
"She didn't apologize."
"She never does." He walked into the closet to deposit his clothes into the laundry basket.
"Alright. There's nothing we can do about them. Either she changes or she doesn't. So, homework?" Sebastian asked before he turned around and realized that Kurt was already completely undressed.
"Let's shower first."
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (p)(d) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
About a half hour later, there was knocking on their door. Kurt tossed Sebastian some pajamas and grabbed some for himself.
He put them on fast and unlocked the door, checking first that Sebastian had managed to get the pajamas on.
"Hey, Dad." Kurt stepped back and let Burt in the room. He went and sat back on the end of the bed.
Burt walked over to the chair and sat down.
"I'm sorry, Kurt."
"For what?" Kurt pulled his legs up and criss-crossed them. Sebastian sat down next to him, but dangled his legs off the side facing the window.
"For making you answer what had happened. At least Carole had the forethought to make Finn leave the room for long enough for you to explain it. But you shouldn't have had to explain that part of it unless you wanted to, which you obviously didn't since only Sebastian knew. It's just that your answer was nowhere on the radar of what I expected you to say. You gave me hints, but I just didn't put two and two together. You mentioned breaking up with him over an issue of needing to retain some self-respect. And you had also once mentioned knowing that you could protect yourself if you needed to, and that you had appreciated my talk on how you mattered. I never pieced them together and realized that he had tried to force or coerce you."
"It was over five months ago at this point, Dad. I'm over it. I'm just not over Rachel's involvement because she's done things for so long and I've forgiven her and given her far too many chances and I'm done for right now. Maybe at some point in the future, I will have moved on and all of it will be far enough in the past, that it won't be an issue anymore. When it happened, I was more angry than afraid. I was hurt, not physically injured – broken-hearted hurt. He broke my trust. I broke up with him the next night – end of issues with him. I'm not saying that I forgive him and that I've forgotten what happens, but I've moved on. It happened. I didn't let it happen again."
"Well, I'm sorry that we, mostly me, I'm sorry I forced your hand to tell something that didn't need to be aired in that way."
Kurt sat there for a moment. "I've already done what I can about it. He says he been going to see the counselor at Dalton. Sebastian says that the counselor is good. Blaine says he's better than the therapist he saw after he came out. All I can hope for is that he keeps his word and doesn't drink anymore. Going to the police would not have helped since you know as well as I do that they don't care about 'squabbles' between teenagers and since it was just as case of 'could have', there's nothing they would have done."
"I know. I know. Knowing your luck around here, they would have charged you with something too. It's definitely better not to have gone to them over something that you had no proof of. I hope he is getting some help."
"The only thing I can really hope for now is that Rachel doesn't say anything to anyone, which is like hoping it won't snow in December. She's a huge gossip, but I guess there's less of a chance with this because she looks bad in the story."
"I reminded her before they left that she had agreed to keep what she was told quiet, so I guess we'll see." Burt paused for a moment. "Sebastian, I want to tell you that I'm proud of you for refusing to answer her nosy questions and for refusing to gossip. You had a chance to throw Blaine under the bus and didn't. Just know that we're here for you, if you ever need to talk about something, Carole and I won't share what you tell us. We'll just help if we can, and if we can't we'll do our best to find someone who can."
"Thanks."
"We won't be repeating tonight's family dinner any time in the future. If and when Rachel grows up and apologizes to you sincerely, and if you decide to forgive her, then we'll reconsider. Carole's heartbroken right now. She knew you had real reasons to be opposed to them getting married, but she thought that most of them just had to do with their immaturity, but her finding out that it there was more to it than just simple teen stupidity – it's hard for her to deal with. In case you two didn't look at the calendar downstairs, I'm home for the next two weeks. There's a congressional recess for spending time in our home districts to keep in touch with our constituents. So, of course, there will be some political stuff I have to go to, but I'll be at the shop and home some of the time."
"We did actually know," Kurt said. "Sam needs a car next weekend and it's a weekend I was going to go to Dalton since Sebastian has a game. So, that's the only issue that I know of that we need to work out somehow."
"We can arrange that somehow, I'm sure. I'll let the two of you get to work on whatever it was you came up here to get done."
Kurt pointed to the stack of books on the vanity. "That's my stack. Sebastian's going to work on a French paper. We're going to Puck's right after we get up in the morning. Sarah's birthday party is tomorrow and he needs help frosting the cake. He said she's getting old enough to care what it looks like and he's terrible at putting the frosting on."
"Sebastian and Puck have a lot in common," Burt said. "I'm sure the cake will look great after you frost it. You're a good friend, Kurt. I'm proud of both of you. Carole and I may go out for dinner tomorrow. I'm not sure yet."
"Alright," Kurt said.
Burt got up and took a few steps toward the door. "I'm just really sad that you went through that alone, Kurt." He just shook his head and left the room.
Kurt got up and shut and locked the door. He turned the light off and went back to the bed and climbed in. He sat as close to Sebastian as he could get. Sebastian put his arm around Kurt's shoulder. "I don't honestly think I can focus right now."
"What would you like to do?"
"Turn the rest of the lights off, turn some music on, get undressed, and get back in the bed and snuggle."
"Sounds perfect." He leaned over and kissed Kurt on the temple. He got up and turned some jazz music on, the rest of the lights off and left his pajamas by the door. He walked over to the bed and Kurt handed him his pajamas, which he folded and put by the door as well. He got back in bed to find that Kurt had his phone in his hand.
"I sent Carole a text telling her that we decided to go to sleep early, so she wouldn't come up and knock since it's only 9:30."
"Good idea. She's in a tough place."
"She is and there's no good solution."
"Big spoon, little spoon?"
"Mmm… Kisses." Kurt scooted toward Sebastian and he rolled on his side to face him.
Sebastian rolled on his side and kissed Kurt. "Always." Sebastian wrapped his hand around the side of Kurt's neck and ran his fingers through his hair. "I love you, Kurt."
"I love you too, Bas, so, so much."
The difficulty of the evening seeped through and tears streamed down Kurt's cheeks silently. Sebastian wiped them away and held Kurt closed without saying anything else. After a few minutes of gentle, reassuring kisses, Kurt turned over to be the little spoon and they fell asleep.